(Taken from St. Alphonsus’ Prayer-Book – pages 451)

Prayer taken from the book "Mother Love - A Manual for Christian Mothers"

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

Quote:Such was the prayer and lamentation of Daniel, during the captivity in Babylon. His prayer was heard; and after seventy years’ exile, the Jews returned to their country, rebuilt the Temple, and were once more received by the Lord as his chosen people. But what are the Israelites now? What has been their history for the last nineteen hundred years? If we apply to them the words of Daniel’s lamentation, they but faintly represent the sad reality of their present long chastisement. God’s anger lies heavily on Jerusalem; the very ruins of the Temple have perished; the children of Israel are dispersed over the whole earth, a reproach to all nations. A curse hangs over this people; like Cain, it is a wanderer and fugitive; and God watches over it, that it become not extinct. The Rationalist is at a loss how to explain this problem; whereas the Christian sees in it the punishment of the greatest of crimes. But what is the explanation of this phenomenon? The Light shone in darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it! If the darkness had received the Light, it would not be darkness now; but it was not so; Israel, therefore, deserved to be abandoned. Several of its children did, indeed, acknowledge the Messias, and they became children of the Light; nay, it was through them that the Light was made known to the whole world. When will the rest of Israel open its eyes? When will this people address to God the prayer of Daniel? They have it; they frequently read it; and yet it finds no response in their proud hearts. Let us, the Gentiles, pray for the Jews—the younger for the older. Every year there are some who are converted, and seek admission into the new Israel of the Church of Christ. Right welcome are they! May God, in his mercy, add to their number; that thus, all men may adore the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, together with Jesus Christ, his Son, whom he sent into this world.

Quote:I go: could Jesus say anything more awful? He is come to save this people; he has given them every possible proof of his love. A few days ago, we heard him saying to the Canaanite woman that he was sent not but for the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel. Alas! these lost sheep disown their Shepherd. He tells the Jews that he is soon going to leave them, and that they will not be able to follow him; but it makes no impression on them. His works testify that is from above; they, the Jews, are of this world, and they can think of no other. The Messias they hope for is to be one of great earthly power; he is to be a great conqueror. In vain, then, does Jesus go about doing good; in vain is nature obedient to his commands; in vain do his wisdom and teaching exceed all that mankind has ever heard—Israel is deaf and blind. The fiercest passions are raging in his heart; nor will he rest, till the Synagogue shall have imbrued its hands in the blood of Jesus. But then, the measure of iniquity will be filled up, and God’s anger will burst upon Israel in one of the most terrible chastisements that the world has ever witnessed. It makes one tremble to read the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem, and the massacre of that people that had clamored for the death of Jesus. Our Lord assures us that nothing more terrible had ever been from the beginning of the world, or ever would be.

God is patient; he waits a long time: but when his anger bursts upon a guilty people like the Jews, the chastisement is without mercy, and one that serves as an example to future generations. O sinners! you who, so far, have turned a deaf ear to the admonitions of the Church, and have refused to be converted to the Lord your God—tremble at these words of Jesus: I go. If this Lent is to be spent like so many others, and leave you in your present state—are you not afraid of that terrible threat: You shall die in your sin? By remaining in your sins, you number yourselves with those who cried out against Jesus: Crucify him, Crucify him! Oh! if he chastised a whole people—a people that he had loaded with favors, and protected and saved innumerable times—think you, he will spare you? He must triumph; if it is not by mercy, it will be by justice.

• Authoritative statement of doctrine
  
• Etymology
  
• Definition
  
• Types
  
• Institution of the sacrament
  
• Matter and form of the sacrament
  
• Conditional baptism
  
• Rebaptism
  
• Necessity of baptism
  
• Substitutes for the sacrament
  
• Unbaptized infants
  
• Effects of baptism
  
• Minister of the sacrament
  
• Recipient of baptism
  
• Adjuncts of baptism
  
• Ceremonies of baptism
  
• Metaphorical baptism
  

Quote:Holy Baptism holds the first place among the sacraments, because it is the door of the spiritual life; for by it we are made members of Christ and incorporated with the Church. And since through the first man death entered into all, unless we be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, we can not enter into the kingdom of Heaven, as Truth Himself has told us. The matter of this sacrament is true and natural water; and it is indifferent whether it be cold or hot. The form is: I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. We do not, however, deny that the words: Let this servant of Christ be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; or: This person is baptized by my hands in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, constitute true baptism; because since the principal cause from which baptism has its efficacy is the Holy Trinity, and the instrumental cause is the minister who confers the sacrament exteriorly, then if the act exercised by the minister be expressed, together with the invocation of the Holy Trinity, the sacrament is perfected. The minister of this sacrament is the priest, to whom it belongs to baptize, by reason of his office. In case of necessity, however, not only a priest or deacon, but even a layman or woman, nay, even a pagan or heretic can baptize, provided he observes the form used by the Church, and intends to perform what the Church performs. The effect of this sacrament is the remission of all sin, original and actual; likewise of all punishment which is due for sin. As a consequence, no satisfaction for past sins is enjoined upon those who are baptized; and if they die before they commit any sin, they attain immediately to the kingdom of heaven and the vision of God.

• The baptism of John (the Precursor) had the same efficacy as the baptism of Christ,
  
• True and natural water is not necessary for baptism, and therefore the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost" are metaphorical.
  
• The true doctrine of the sacrament of baptism is not taught by the Roman Church,
  
• Baptism given by heretics in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost with the intention of performing what the Church performs, is not true baptism,
  
• Baptism is free, that is, not necessary for salvation.
  
• A baptized person, even if he wishes it, can not lose grace, no matter how much he sins, unless he refuses to believe.
  
• Those who are baptized are obliged only to have faith, but not to observe the whole law of Christ.
  
• Baptized persons are not obliged to observe all the precepts of the Church, written and traditional, unless of their own accord they wish to submit to them.
  
• All vows made after baptism are void by reason of the promises made in baptism itself; because by these vows injury is done to the faith which has been professed in baptism and to the sacrament itself.
  
• All sins committed after baptism are either forgiven or rendered venial by the sole remembrance and faith of the baptism that has been received.
  
• Baptism although truly and properly administered, must be repeated in the case of a person who has denied the faith of Christ before infidels and has been brought again to repentance.
  
• No one is to be baptized except at the age at which Christ was baptized or at the moment of death.
  
• Infants, not being able to make an act of faith, are not to be reckoned among the faithful after their baptism, and therefore when they come to the age of discretion they are to be rebaptized; or it is better to omit their baptism entirely than to baptize them as believing on the sole faith of the Church, when they themselves can not make a proper act of faith.
  
• Those baptized as infants are to be asked when they have grown up, whether they wish to ratify what their sponsors had promised for them at their baptism, and if they reply that they do not wish to do so, they are to be left to their own will in the matter and not to be forced by penalties to lead a Christian life, except to be deprived of the reception of the Eucharist and of the other sacraments, until they reform.
  

• the external rite,
  
• the institution of Christ, for they baptized by His command and mission, and
  
• the conferring of grace, for they bestowed the Holy Ghost (John 1).
  

• Such persons, by the ordinary law of the Church, may not receive Catholic funeral rites. The reason of this regulation is given by Pope Innocent III (Decr., III, XXVIII, xii): "It has been decreed by the sacred canons that we are to have no communion with those who are dead, if we have not communicated with them while alive." According to Canon Law (CIC 1183), however, catechumens "are to be considered members of the Christian faithful" as regard funeral rites. The Plenary Council of Baltimore also decrees (No. 389) that the custom of burying the unbaptized relatives of Catholics in the family sepulchers may be tolerated.
  
• A Catholic may not marry an unbaptized person without dispensation, under pain of nullity. This impediment, as far as illiceity is concerned, is derived from the natural law, because in such unions the Catholic party and the offspring of the marriage would, in most cases, be exposed to the loss of faith. The invalidity of such marriage, however, is a consequence only of positive law. For, in the beginning of Christianity, unions between the baptized and unbaptized were frequent, and they were certainly held valid. When, then, circumstances arise where the danger of perversion for the Catholic party is removed, the Church dispenses in her law of prohibition, but always requires guarantees from the non-Catholic party that there will be no interference with the spiritual rights of the partner of the union. (See IMPEDIMENTS OF MATRIMONY.)
  

• Origen (in cap. vi, Ep. ad Rom.) declares: "The Church received from the Apostles the tradition of giving baptism also to infants".
  

• St. Augustine (Serm. xi, De Verb Apost.) says of infant baptism: "This the Church always had, always held; this she received from the faith of our ancestors; this she perseveringly guards even to the end."
  

• St. Cyprian (Epistle 58) writes: "From baptism and from grace . . . must not be kept the infant who, because recently born, has committed no sin, except, inasmuch as it was born carnally from Adam, it has contracted the contagion of the ancient death in its first nativity; and it comes to receive the remission of sins more easily on this very account that not its own, but another's sins are forgiven it."
  

• St. Cyprian's letter to Fidus declares that the Council of Carthage in 253 reprobated the opinion that the baptism of infants should be delayed until the eighth day after birth.
  

• The Council of Milevis in 416 anathematizes whosoever says that infants lately born are not to be baptized.
  

• The Council of Trent solemnly defines the doctrine of infant baptism (Sess. VII, can. xiii). It also condemns (can. xiv) the opinion of Erasmus that those who had been baptized in infancy, should be left free to ratify or reject the baptismal promises after they had become adult.
  

Taken from Fr. Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays, and Festivals throughout the Ecclesiastical Year 36th edition, 1880

Quote:EXPLANATION. From these words we see, that the great Teacher of Nations as carefully showed the Christian congregations the sanctity of their calling, as he labored to lead them from the blindness and abominations of heathenism.

ASPIRATION. Grant, O God, that I may live an honest, chaste and holy life in accordance with my vocation, and go not after earthly and carnal pleasures, as the heathens who know Thee not.